The Host

Gwoemul / 괴물

Show Times

"The Asian monster movie comes screeching and stomping into the 21st century with this entertaining, culturally loaded popcorn thriller from South Korea." — J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader

A master of wreaking havoc with genre conventions, Bong (MEMORIES OF MURDER, SNOWPIERCER) takes us on another wild ride when a monster created by American military chemical-dumping surfaces from Seoul's Han River and proceeds to chow down on the locals. Bong beefs ups this GODZILLA scenario with helpings of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and DR. STRANGELOVE, as he centers the story on a massively dysfunctional family attempting to rescue their schoolgirl daughter from the monster's lair and stingingly satirizes the buffoonish authorities who get in their way. In Korean with English subtitles. 35mm widescreen. (MR)

FEBRUARY 21: Lecture by award-winning filmmaker and installation artist Melika Bass, Assistant Professor in the Department of Film, Video, New Media and Animation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.